Marchionne: Diesel’s Days In Passenger Cars Are Numbered

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Speaking to Wards Auto, Marchionne said that the diesel engine’s poor emissions would lead to its eventual demise. Diesel is currently a part of FCA’s business strategy, but as electrification becomes more widespread it may take a back seat to the technology.

“Sometime in the next five years diesel will become offensive to the fleet,” Marchionne told Wards.

Marchionne believes that more than 50% of FCA’s product lineup will one day be hybrids of some type. Drastic changes like that are what must happen if automakers wish to meet the 2025 emissions regulations – which demands an industry fleetwide fuel economy rating of 54.5 miles per gallon.

FCA isn’t giving up on diesel entirely, however. It recently divulged plans to introduce a diesel variant of the next-generation Jeep Wrangler, though it also said a mild-hybrid Ram and Wrangler would also eventually arrive. The mild-hybrid Ram and Wrangler will join the Pacifica Hybrid in FCA’s electrified vehicle lineup, which until recently only consisted of the Fiat 500e.